Answer given by Mr McGrath on behalf of the European Commission
22.9.2025
The Commission recently evaluated several adequacy decisions including the one for Israel and concluded that the decisions could be kept in place[1].
This assessment covered all relevant elements of the privacy framework as well as the broader institutional and legal system to the extent it affects the level of protection of personal data transferred from the EU.
As part of this evaluation, the Commission negotiated a significant strengthening of privacy safeguards and individual rights in Israel, specifically for EU data transfers, which was implemented in Israeli law in May 2023, and which was subsequently extended to also apply to domestically processed data.
Monitoring the functioning of adequacy decisions under Article 45(4) of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)[2] is a continuous and comprehensive process, which in practice means that the Commission is following relevant developments in law and practice, based on various sources of information such as reporting from the EU Delegation as well as media reports and information provided by different stakeholders, such as academia, civil society organisations, and the EU’s data protection authorities.
The legal framework gives the Commission the tools to react if the level of protection would weaken, including the possibility to propose the amendment, suspension or repeal of the decision.
- [1] COM(2024) 7 final of 15.1.2024 and SWD(2024) 3 final of 15.1.2025, Report from the Commission to the European Parliament and the Council on the first review of the functioning of the adequacy decisions adopted pursuant to Article 25(6) of Directive 95/46/EC and Commission Staff Working Document accompanying the report from the Commission to the European Parliament and the Council on the first review of the functioning of the adequacy decisions pursuant to Article 25(6) of Directive 95/46/EC of 15 January 2024.
- [2] https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A02016R0679-20160504&qid=1532348683434.